A younger Charlie wearing her sister’s handmedown dress – beyond #30wears!
I have always been nostalgic and adore films set in the 1960s, so when my mum first brought me to a vintage shop I was instantly in love and I started saving my money again for pre-loved dresses that I had coveted for months to help me on my quest to look like Twiggy (except shorter and with a wildly less chic mop of hair).
My wardrobe is now full of vintage or second hand dresses that I treasure, and I find it special that they have a story behind them and have been produced uniquely with time and care. My love affair with thrifting has also proved useful since moving to London, particularly when much of your savings have been spent travelling on the other side of the Atlantic!
Buying vintage clothes, that are pre-dominantly handmade and long-lasting, made me start to think about the speed in which the things we buy are produced now and how easily we can buy a t-shirt made in China, or an avocado grown in Mexico. Once I started to consider this, the idea manifested in my head and I began questioning where everything was coming from, and what it took to make it and get it to us. How is it possible that we can produce a top for less than £5, when the average retail sales assistant is paid £7 an hour to sell it?